Data networks frequently are used to deliver content and services. Service providers and content providers often distinguish themselves based on the quality of the provided services or content, one factor of which is the reliability and efficiency of the transmission of related data via the network. To improve the efficiency in which content and services are delivered, many content and service providers take a distributed approach whereby data is cached at multiple points within a core network so as to locate the data proximate to the end users. Thus, data networks often are called upon not only to deliver content and services to end users, but to facilitate the internal redistribution of the related data within the network itself.
The use of the same reference symbols in different drawings indicates similar or identical items.